Two major talents made their Broadway debut recently, though neither is a stranger to the stage. Actor Ewan McGregor came to Broadway after numerous stints in the West End. (His turn in the musical Guys and Dolls had charm to spare.) And Sting came to Broadway with a musical about a town facing hard times as the ship building industry slowly sinks away. Neither show is a full-on creative success. But in a role more suited to him, McGregor will shine. And Sting has a gift for melody Broadway desperately needs; he's one of the pop stars who genuinely belongs on the Great White Way. Maybe a show less personal will free him up to build on the strong start he makes here.

The volume is turned way down low on this muted, low-key revival of Tom Stoppard's blistering masterpiece The Real Thing. I mean that literally. The show -- about a playwright with a floundering marriage and a deep-seated love for pop music -- is filled to the brim with references to and actual snip...